Castle of Glass
by majmu
Summary: LevixEren. Eren lives with his large family peacefully and without worries near the coast. That is until some weird... creature comes and messes up everything.
1. Chapter 1: Creature

If Eren would've had the word in his vocabulary, he would have said he was 'different'.

His family was a very large one. He met new ones almost daily, but only few of them spoke to him. Some of them took him on their palms and made cooing sounds, but that was all. Luckily his closest family member spoke, though not so fluidly like Eren did, even though it was the one who had taught him to speak.

"Hungry?" it questioned. Eren shook his head visibly and resumed to stare at the glistering water which disappeared into the horizon. 'Ocean' as it was called.

"I want swim", he declared suddenly, rising from the crouch he was in and skidding along the gigantic arm to get to the ground. The hand pressed to the ground to let him down easily, and Eren ran to the water without much thought, diving instantly after getting deep enough. For some reason his family hated water, but he rather liked it. Very much. If there only was a better word for the feeling he got when he was underwater, because he felt like 'like' wasn't strong enough.

In the ocean were creatures that his mama called 'fish' after a while of thinking. Eren liked watching them swim and he wondered how it felt to be covered by such skin as they were. He was never fast enough to catch them, but he never tried. He just swam after them until he had to return to the surface.

When he swam up to the surface to gasp some air, he noticed that his mama wasn't leaning to the giant tree like it was earlier. He didn't actually see any of his family at the moment, which wasn't unheard-of, but rare nonetheless. After a moment of contemplating he decided to head to the land. He was curious to know what was happening and it was easier to see if he climbed to the tree.

He was just about to reach the point where his feet were able to touch the sandy bottom when he heard loud crackling sound and a loud thump from the forest. Steam and dust rose from somewhere underneath the treetops and Eren let out a terrified gasp.

Few snapping sounds and a roar of one of his family member's later something flew towards the water. Some kind of strings tried to grasp at anything before it would fall to the ocean, but they detached from the creature and left it to fall into the water. It flailed at the surface few seconds before sinking underwater, leaving Eren confused about what he should do. In the end he swam to the place where he saw the creature land and dove after it.

After diving many years without closing his eyes, the water didn't bother his eyes when he headed to the bottom, seeing something darker there but not being able to what it was because of the blurriness. The pressure rose and he was finally able to grasp at the thing to get it back to the surface. It looked like a miniature version of his family, but that was the only thing he could notice before something slashed him across his ribs. He yelled in pain and accidentally let the air from his lungs, getting his mouth full of salt water. He was able to close his mouth before it reached his lungs, but he felt already dizzy. Blindly he tried to get a grip from the thing before him, grabbing onto it and starting to pull it to the surface. It was heavy, and when he was finally able to break the surface he gasped and brought the creature's head from underwater just to meet wide and dark eyes staring at him. The creature was still conscious to Eren's surprise, but when it coughed water he didn't waste time and started to head for the land with strong kicks while trying to keep them both from sinking and drowning.

In the end Eren was able to get the creature from the water, and instantly understood why it had been so heavy. Large objects were attached to its sides and it was covered in weird material which seemed to press heavily into it on some points. Different colors separated the fabrics and Eren could only wonder what their meaning was.

The thing spluttered something and he was starting to get nervous because he didn't know what to do with it. It beat its own chest and sounded like it was trying to cough its lungs out, and after awhile it just kind of slumped. Uh oh.

Eren was thinking hard to come up with some way to help the other, and after taking a deep breath he _did_ come up with something. Carefully he placed his own mouth on the other's and tried to blow some air into its lungs. When it was harder than he thought he cocked its head so the mouth opened and its neck was straight, and this time he was able to get the air needed to rise its chest. It gasped and resumed to breathe on its own and Eren felt like he had just made some kind of miracle.

After making sure the creature seemed to be fine he sighed and backed away. Sharp pain cut through his side and he whimpered when he saw the gash that oozed blood. The adrenaline had made him forget the pain, but now he wondered what to do about it. And where did it come from? He didn't need to wonder it too long when the creature next to him made a lurching move to the side and vomited seawater on the sand. Eren decided to ignore the wound for now because it didn't even bleed that much anymore, and instead started to take the heavy things off the creature's sides. After awhile of huffing and trying he just ripped the leather around its hips with a sharp stone. It did nothing.

In the end he cut every single strap which he saw and was finally able to detach the brown things surrounding its body with the heavy things. He dumped them next to a rock and started to drag the creature to the forest where it would be warmed and drier. The fabric on it was wet and probably uncomfortable, but Eren wasn't going to start taking them off. The brown things were hard enough.

* * *

"Fricking _water_..."

Eren turned surprised from the fire to the creature lying on the ground. Did it just say 'water'? So it could speak?

The black haired creature tried to sit up but seemed to think again and just resumed lying on the leaves Eren had piled for it. After a moment of silence it however seemed to snap out of it and almost jumped to its feet, luckily being next to a tree so it could get support from it to avoid falling right after it. The same dark eyes stared at Eren making him uncomfortable, but he didn't avoid them. After awhile the creature blinked and whispered: "What the...?"

A sound of heavy footsteps made it hiss something and dart its eyes upwards. Eren was confused why it seemed so distressed by the sound of normal footsteps, and when it dashed to the side and out of the light to avoid a familiar hand he was even more confused.

"Mama wait", Eren said loudly causing the hand to stop, hovering over the creature. It was hunched over and was obviously having trouble with standing up while coughing. Eren felt bad for it and stood up to help it back near the fire.

"It human", his mama growled and moved its finger in grabby motions. He just pushed the hand away and kneeled next to the creature, linking its hand over his shoulder to drag it back. It didn't seem to want the help though, and jabbed him straight to the ribs where the wound was. This caused Eren to cry out and fall to his knees in pain, withdrawing his arm from the human to wrap it around his middle. He crawled a bit farther away from it when his mama grasped the human from the ground and shook it angrily.

"Wait! You titans can _talk_?" it suddenly yelled when the shaking paused. Eren's mama gripped it more tightly making its breathing wheeze but it didn't say anything that showed it was in pain.

"We not speak for humans", it answered steadily.

"He's a human." A cock of its head towards Eren.

"Me?" Eren asked incredulously. He, a human? Well that was stupid.

"Why you think he human?"

"He has genitals."

Now Eren was confused. Geni-whats?

"Does he eat humans too?"

"He eat plants. No meat."

"_I'm here!_" Eren whined.

His mama squeezed at the human causing it to make a "gah!"-sound before dropping it to the ground.

"Eren not human. Not from walls, not human."

"You can be human even if you aren't from the walls. Where did you find him?" the human asked while sitting up.

"My baby Eren", mama said before walking further away. Eren looked at the human cautiously and stood up to follow after his family member, but the pain made him hiss lowly. He stalked slowly next to the fire and took some leaves to put on his re-opened wound. He didn't feel like helping the human anymore.

"Is your name Eren?"

He stiffened but didn't answer, a bit put out because of the conversation that had taken place just moments ago. He just put a few roots in his mouth and chewed on them, trying to ignore the human.

After awhile it returned to its place on the leaves and Eren pretended he didn't notice.

* * *

What is this weirdness? :O I got an inspiration for a RiRen fic and decided to start posting it. So, what do you think? :) Please tell me about typos because I suck at betaing D:


	2. Chapter 2: Human

In the morning Eren woke up to the sound of shouting and slashing. He bounced to his feet and noticed that he was alone. The noise came from somewhere further away, near the treetops.

He started to run to the direction of the voices, but had to dodge when something fell from above. A huge piece of meat cut like fat half a leaf. It started to steam and Eren rounded it carefully. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't want to touch it. After getting around it he saw that something else steamed too, and he started to run to that direction. It was silent this time.

"Oh my god Levi, that was brutal!" a voice cut through the forest and Eren was able to detect laughter in it. He didn't like that sound in this situation, and after reaching a small open area in the forest he stopped. Something large was making a huge amount of steam in the middle of it, but after noticing the three human on a tree on the other side of the opening he didn't go closer to investigate.

"There is no such thing when dealing with titans", a more familiar voice told calmly. Eren could see the short human next to two others who wore the same kind of garments as the first one had when he had saved it.

"I found the ocean."

The two others turned to stare at him in wonder. The one with longer hair let out a weird high pitched sound before asking what it was like.

"Cold and salty. I sank like a rock after that titan threw me there", the human told. It turned a thin object on its hand before tsking and letting it fall to the ground.

"How did you get to the shore?" a deeper voice asked. Eren saw it was a blond human with short hair.

"From the Recon or from the water? My horse's reins broke and it started running to the wrong direction, then a titan kicked us into the air and I landed on a tree. Then it was mostly just trying to not get eaten when I had eight of them trying to do so, and before I noticed I was already flying through the air and splosh, underwater."

The blond nodded and asked about getting out of the water.

"Some boy helped me", the human just said.

After a moment of silence a loud _'what?!'_ sent birds flying from the trees. The black haired human looked annoyed.

"A human boy, teenager helped me. I don't know how because I wasn't fully conscious when it happened, but then I woke up without my maneuver gear in some kind of camp."

Now Eren was able to see something from the rising steam. Dark brown long hair and familiar hand were the only things that were left of his mama.

Too terrified of the humans to go any closer he kneeled on the ground and placed his hand on his chest. It felt like it was going to burst and a very low whine escaped from his throat. Had they killed his mama? But why would they do that? His mama was gentle but determined and protective, plus he was the biggest of his family members around here. Only once he has seen someone bigger and it had only walked away after seeing him like so many others. Mama was always there. Why did they kill it?

"Fine, we'll get the boy", the blonde haired human sighed and walked closer to the black haired one. It kneeled before the other, backside towards it. The black haired one didn't seem amused but climbed on nonetheless. After this they all headed to the direction Eren had come from by swinging from tree to tree with their weird strings. Which was the way he still was in, though closer than the humans thought.

"I must warn you, he doesn't have clothes."

"I don't mind!"

"Quiet Hanji."

"WAIT!"

Eren glared at the humans when the black haired one spotted him and made the others to come down from their trees. He walked to the opening, sitting on the still hot ground. Only some hair and bone was there anymore, but despite that he petted them gently.

"Levi, is this boy a mental?" the most high pitched voice questioned. Eren didn't understand the words that actually had any meaning in the sentence so he just ignored them.

"Shush Hanji. Eren? What are you doing?" the human questioned. Eren glanced at them with a leer and squeezed at the hair in his palm.

"Sitting", he said truthfully. He thought he heard a quiet snort, but it could have been just his imagination too.

"We see that. Why are you sitting?" the human tried again. The leer doubled in its asset.

"God Levi, you suck at this. Let me handle it!" the long haired human said. "Where are your parents boy?"

When the word didn't ring any bells in Eren's mind it tried again despite Levi's tries to quiet it down.

"Your mother? You know, mom, mama, what do you even call it?"

Eren turned his head to the other direction and stiffened considerably. The hair in his hand had disappeared into thin air. No steam to be seen.

"Dead. Killed", he muttered. Were the humans really so mean that they came to him and asked about it?

"Did the titan kill them?"

"Shut it Hanji. The titan was his 'mama'. Now please give him something to wear."

* * *

Long talk ensued. Levi explained everything and Hanji almost strangled him for not telling about the talking titan. Now it was dead and so many questions were left unanswered. Then they turned back to Eren.

"Eren, you come with us", Levi said.

"No."

The black haired human's brow twitched.

"Yes you will, we can't just leave you here without anyone to take care of you. We can give you food and shelter, a place to stay."

Silence answered when Eren stood up and started to walk away from them. Levi growled and went after him.

"You have no choice", he mumbled annoyed. Eren didn't react. It pissed Levi off when he had to walk faster to keep up with the teenager.

"What keeps you here? You're not even a titan and without your mama they will try to eat you I'm sure. You can be safe with us." Levi was starting to wonder if the boy's head was made of rock. He would have grasped this kind of opportunity instantly when he was at that age.

Suddenly the boy stopped and Levi almost collided with the naked backside. He was able to dodge however and found himself looking straight into shiny green eyes.

'___Oh god, he's crying._'

"You killed mama", the stifled voice sounded accusing, which it obviously was. Levi felt the weird urge to scratch the back of his head.

"She was a titan and titans kill humans. I had to do it."

"No. Didn't had to. Mama not kill you because I said so."

"You think she would have obeyed you?"

When Eren looked at him confused Levi tried to dumben down his words.

"You think mama not kill me if you say so?" This kind of talking was humiliating.

"Mama not kill you if I say no."

"Then your mama was stupid and stupid die in this world."

Wait, that didn't come out right.

A drop ran down the boys cheek and Levi felt uncomfortable.

"If I come with you, you still kill titans?"

"Uhm.." he felt like lying because he really didn't feel like leaving the boy here, but somehow the truth escaped from his lips. "Yes. If we don't kill them first they will kill us."

Eren nodded and looked away. A tense silence hung between them for a long while before he spoke again.

"I come with you, but I want see titan attack you before you attack it. Don't believe."

Levi sighed mutely and nodded. Understandable.

* * *

I changed the character from "Corporal Rivaille" to "Levi" 'cause it's faster to write in the story :d *ashamed*

So uhm, Levi and the others are younger in this story. And sorry about not having Mike there (yet!) with this epic trio, the character is such a mystery to me that I'm still trying to understand it :D

Thank you for the faves, follows and especially for the reviews :) *hugs you all*


	3. Chapter 3: He

It took some time for the soldiers to get Eren into some clothes. The boy had obviously never wore any and he looked extremely uncomfortable in them. They were Irvin's extra clothes from his saddlebag so they were too big for him, which was good in these circumstances. Something smaller would have probably made the boy claustrophobic or something.

"You can call me Levi. That crazy woman is Hanji and the last one is Irvin."

Eren looked a bit confused, then ashamed. Levi could guess why.

"You don't understand everything I say, do you? Don't worry, we'll teach you. What did you not get?"

"Crazy", Eren said without blinking an eye. Levi cocked his head a bit and contemplated for a moment.

"Crazy is... uh. Not normal. She acts differently from others. But it's mean to say that to another person so don't use it."

"You use it."

Hanji snickered loudly while Levi wondered how it was so hard to teach someone these things.

"She's my friend so she doesn't think it's mean."

"Yes I do."

"She doesn't care though."

Eren resumed staring at Levi. The man sighed and asked what else was in his mind.

"Woman."

A very heavy silence fell. Eren fidgeted and blushed. Then Levi turned to his friends with a frown.

"I just realized something. This boy has lived with a titan as long as he can remember."

"Titans don't have genders", Hanji completed his realization with a breathless voice. Irvin kept his pokerface.

"Didn't think sex education was needed at this point yet but... Hanji would you strip for us", Levi said with a straight face.

"Hahaha very funny, but I think you're gonna need to find someone else to do that", the woman said and backed away a bit. Levi though it was worth the shot.

"So... Eren, you are a man. I am a man, and Irvin is a man – well, as far as I know."

"Don't confuse him! I am a man Eren."

"But Hanji here is a woman. She has these –" Levi went to grab 'these' but was kicked away by the woman who poked at her breasts to let Eren know what Levi meant.

"– Which are called breasts. Men don't have those. Unless they're fat or just muscular. Some women have smaller breasts too. They also have higher pitched voices than men do – do you understand what that means? Good – and bigger hips. They are kind of shaped differently from us."

As an afterthought he decided to delve a bit deeper into the explanation.

"And they don't have penises. You know, the thing you got in those pants of yours. They have a hole in there."

"Goddamnit Levi! It's not a 'hole', and it's not where you described it to be. You would make a terrible sex-ed", Hanji groaned in the background.

"Hole, crack, whatever", Levi dismissed.

* * *

The next hard thing was getting the four of them to move on two horses. The animals seemed to absolutely adore Eren and even snapped at Irvin when he was trying to get to his bag whilst the boy petted them. The soldiers needed to reassure many times that the reins and saddle didn't hurt them and that they were used to it before Eren even thought about riding.

"This is ridiculous. Eren, just hop on the saddle", Hanji urged and shooed the boy next to the horse. Eren didn't look convinced and carefully touched the horse next to the saddle.

"The hell with it, I'll ride with him", Levi said an came down from the horse he was already on with Irvin. Hanji started to whine about putting the biggest ones of them on the same animal but a death glare from Levi silenced her pretty fast.

"I must agree with Hanji on this one. Neither of you have 3D Maneuver Gear and I really would like to return to Wall Maria with all of us intact. And Levi... what _did_ happen to your gear?"

The black haired man just shrugged.

"Dunno. Ask him." He pointed at Eren.

"Uh, Eren? What happened to the stuff Levi had on him?" Irvin sounded a bit uneasy while talking to the boy and Levi just barely stifled a snort.

"Take them off on beach. Heavy", the brunette told quietly.

"'Took them off', Eren. When you talk about something that happened earlier and not now you say 'took'", Levi said, not bothering to add 'the' before the 'beach'. Little at a time. Eren just nodded and suddenly hugged the horse. The animal was absolutely thrilled and made a weird noise before leaning on the boy with what seemed to be all its weight.

"It's gonna crush you if you don't move you know", the black haired man said pessimistically. Eren just glanced at him before climbing on the horse with no problems. Levi tried to not notice how it was probably much more smooth than the way he would ever be able to do it. Curse his height.

"We'll switch when we reach the titan areas. Until then I think we can avoid them, but after it we need to get both of you someone who can use Maneuver Gear. The rest of the Recon is back already so I think there will be even more titans near the Walls", Irvin told them. While he was still talking Levi had hopped on the saddle and now sat before Eren.

On second thought this wasn't such a great idea.

When the horse stepped forwards Eren hands took a tight grip from Levi's shirt's backside. The man glanced at the boy before turning to follow after Irvin and Hanji. Eren made an interesting squeaking sound and slid a bit to the side, making Levi stop the horse.

"If you can't keep balanced put your arms around me. We don't need you falling off at this speed if we ever want to reach Wall Maria."

"Okay."

Slender arms sneaked around Levi's upper body and he had to stifle a shudder. The boy was surprisingly muscular, though not to the point where he would have looked like a trained soldier like Levi was. His hands were also large, but that was probably because of the erratic growth spurts of the teenager. He was already much taller than the black haired man and it would seem that he wasn't done yet.

"Fricking titan boy..." Levi muttered and applied some pressure on the horse's sides to get it moving again. Then they were off.

"Hey Eren, I was wondering how you got that wound on your side? Did you perhaps fall off a tree?" Hanji asked eagerly. The boy seemed to stiffen a bit and Levi rose his other brow even though the other was unable to see it.

"Uh... Didn't know before but now Er... I? I think it was Levi. Levi cut it."

"Excuse me? When did _I_ do that?" the man questioned surprised and maybe a bit offended. He could feel the way Eren's fingers twitched nervously against his skin through the fabric.

"In water when I grabbed you something slash...ed? Slashed me here and it hurt. I think it was that kind of thing like in the tree."

"In the tree?"

"When you was on that tree and it fell. After you... killed..." the boy's voice faded.

An uncomfortable silence took over the four of them. Even Hanji was quiet. After a moment of listening to the silence Levi cleared his throat.

"'Were' is the correct way to say it instead of was, as in 'you were on that tree'. And the thing was a blade. I wasn't quite myself when you pulled me up from there."

Eren just nodded quickly and hummed his understanding. Hanji stared at Levi and seemed to want to say somehing, but then decided to keep quiet. Nobody said anything for a long while.


	4. Chapter 4: It

Sorry for the silence, I tried to catch the inspiration that escaped but now it luckily came back on its own accord 8)

I guess I should warn you that there is some gory stuff in here...

* * *

"We'll change now. Levi, you come with me", Irvin told and stopped his horse on a remotely thick part of the forest. They were able to see the bright shine of the sun through the leaves and were in a bit of a hurry at this point. It would be wise to wait until it got darker, but it was about just as dangerous to just sit down and wait for the titans to come find them.

Levi didn't say anything and just tapped at Eren hands to release him before jumping down. He was just about to walk past Hanji who was heading for Eren and his ride when a thumping sound was heard. They all tensed except for Eren. Irvin stood in the stirrups to see what was approaching.

"It sounds like an abnormal. What is it?" Hanji asked with a slightly exited gleam in her eyes. Irvin's eyes followed the shape in the middle of the undergrowth for a while before sitting down with a small smile.

"Don't worry, it's not a titan."

Levi stared at the man for a while before turning to look at the direction the sound was coming from. Soon a dark grey creature stumbled from the bushes and the short haired man let out a small sound of surprisement.

The exhausted horse kept one of its hind legs from touching the ground and had several wounds from running through the thick forest, but all in all it looked pretty good if you thought it had gotten kicked through the air by a titan just yesterday. It looked straight at its rider and walked to Levi, instantly starting to lean on the short man for some comfort. He wasn't a very sturdy surface to lean on however and almost ended up falling on his butt when the horse let out a relieved sigh.

"Huh, I thought you were dead", Levi mumbled after getting a hold of the horse's very much broken reins. The saddle was long gone.

"Wait, I think I remember that horse's name!" Hanji suddenly shrieked. "It was something really weird... Baro-something."

"Barometer", the short man stated without blinking an eye.

"Who names a horse Barometer?"

"I did."

"Oh."

Irvin rode closer to the duo and seemed to be deep in thought. After a moment he said he didn't know if the horse was a good or a bad thing.

"It can't be ridden and it will probably slow us down."

"That doesn't matter. We don't need to wait for it, but surely it knows the way back to the walls if it follows our tracks. Titans are no danger for the horses if they don't have riders", Levi cut quickly and started to take off the broken straps from the horse's head.

A small thump made him turn around to see Eren walking towards them with his horse tailing close behind. The boy didn't seem to notice this or ignored the animal when he crouched to look at the injured Barometer's leg.

"What are you doing?"

The suspicious tone made the boy startle and look at Levi like a deer in the headlights. The man softened his expression and crouched next to Eren to take a closer look at the leg himself. When he moved his hand to touch the swelling part Eren quickly stood up and backed away a bit. Levi felt it sting a bit to have the other react that way to him even though they had just ridden on the same horse for over an hour.

But suddenly the boy looked to the right, where the forest gave way to a meadow. Levi slowly stood up and glanced at the grassy ground which was barely visible from the trees blocking the view. Eren started walking to the direction.

"Eren?" Hanji questioned while trying to hold back the horse which wanted to follow the boy. Levi furrowed his brows and was just about to follow Eren, but then he heard a quiet stomping sound. Now he could hear how much different Barometer's hooves had sounded like.

"It's a titan", he whispered before quickly going after Eren, taking a firm grip from his shirt stopping him. The boy glared at the black haired man and mumbled:

"I don't believe. Show me it attacks you first."

"Shit... Eren, I don't have my gear and I'm not going to volunteer to be eaten. Now come on we're getting out of here", Levi said and tried to get the boy to move back. Eren however shook him off and started to walk towards the sound. Levi almost let out a small sound of frustration, but was able to stifle it.

"We're leaving, Eren. Either with you of without", Irvin said loud enough to be heard. For a moment Eren hesitated, but it seemed that something familiar drew him towards them than the people he had met just a while ago. Levi looked at the boy disbelievingly before turning to Irvin. The man was stone faced.

"Are you fucking serio-?"

"Levi, get on the horse. We're going to kill that titan when it comes to the woods."

For a moment Levi stared at the blond man blankly.

"_Why?_" he then asked incredulously. Well this didn't make any sense.

"Levi you should just start trusting me and asking questions."

"Maybe when you've proven yourself."

Eren had to frown a bit when he saw the titan that approached him. It was pretty small compared to many others, but it had very intimidating teeth that the boy now watched differently thanks to the way Levi and the others had talked about them. Bulging eyes found him and the creature sped up a bit to reach him faster. Eren took a step back but the titan had already hurried close enough to cast a shadow over him.

Chubby hand grabbed him, but he could feel that it wasn't the gentle way his mother had done it with.

"Wait!" Eren said quickly and tried to pry himself free without success. He made a face and heard a horrifying crack come from his hips when the titan took a better grip from him, followed by enormous amount of pain.

_'Why?'_

"Levi!"

Hooves beat the ground and Eren could turn just enough to see something dashing past him. Barometer collided with the titans legs and kicked them for good measure before running farther away. Levi seemed to have problems with getting to the right position on the creature's shoulder and stabbed it straight to the eye after contemplating that he couldn't kill it. It dropped Eren with a whine and tried to take a grab at Levi, but the man jumped down and ran back towards the woods with the dulled blades still in his hands, blood evaporating from them. The titan started running after him, leaving Eren lying on the ground with his face twisted in pain. His body was throbbing painfully from waist down.

Slowly the pain was disappearing and Eren was able to sit up. He turned to look at the forest and sighed after seeing smoke rising from the woods.

They had been right. This titan was different from the ones he had seen with his mama. But what could make them attack humans?

Few minutes later Eren staggered to his feet and started to make his way back to the forest head hung in confusion and shame. It was obvious that he had endangered Levi's life with his actions.

"Just... let the poor animal out of its misery."

Blood had splattered on the grass and Eren saw a dark brown animal writhing on the ground, the horse's whole lover body smashed into a distorted mass. For a second the teenager thought it was Barometer, but the coat's color was too brown. It was Hanji's horse.

Eren had never seen so much blood and it had never occurred to him that inside of the body was so much red and... what was that white thing protruding from its side? The smell hit him, a stale metallic stench mixed with sweat and some other unwanted scents.

He felt like throwing up.

Hanji had turned her back to the scene and was breathing steadily with her shoulders going up with tension on every intake of air. Some blood has splattered on her white trousers and it was probably from the horse because it wasn't evaporating.

Levi had his poker face in check, but the tension in his body was obvious by the way he was gripping his broken blades. Irvin tried to calm his horse by walking further away, followed by fearful Barometer. The dark horse was too shaken to go back to its rider who was standing the closest to the fallen horse.

"Levi?" Hanji said softly. The dark haired man took a deep breath and walked the remaining meters between his and the animal, kicking it in the head as hard as he could. A crack was heard and it stopped squirming, only jerking because of the tension in its muscles. Then Levi cut its throat open, quickly jumping away from the spray of blood that spurted from the open wound. He was able to avoid most of it.

Then the man noticed Eren. The brunette was staring at the growing pool of blood that absorbed into the ground slowly. His face was pale and maybe a bit greenish.

"Eren?" he asked cautiously.

The boy turned around and walked a few steps before throwing up.

* * *

I'm glad my mother is used to my weird questions for my writings and didn't wonder when I asked her about killing an injured horse in the most humane way possible without medicine or a gun. 8)


End file.
